Happy Birthday Gloria!

Happy monumental Birthday to Ray's sister Gloria today!  We won't mention any numbers.
Ray got up quite early this morning to watch for the earliest light to see by to get out of Little Shark River.  Why he thought he needed to open up the screen door and go outside to check that is yet to be understood.  In those few moments the mosquitos came in and buzzed around my head in bed.  Not the best of alarm clocks in my opinion, but it got me up.
I had the idea of each of us setting up a fan, one on the bow, one at the helm to try to keep the bugs away from us long enough to get out of this infested Everglade swamp.  It worked well for me.  Ray did not think it was worth the effort for himself on the bow.  He just drenched himself in insect repellent and went for it.  I don't know if both of those things worked, or it just wasn't as bad as last evening, but Ray got both anchors up and we were out of there by 6:30 a.m.
We wanted to get down to Marathon as soon as possible as winds were predicted to increase late.  What exactly late meant, we had no idea.
Today's seas were much calmer than yesterday.  Maybe a one foot chop on the quarter stern, which again made the auto pilot go crazy, but the following sea gave us good speed.  We again gave up on the auto pilot steering, this time more because of the tremendous amount of crab pots.
At about noon we were traversing under the seven mile bridge, and by 1:30 p.m. we were in our same 'ole slip, B15, at Sombrero Marina Dockside.  Of course our welcoming committee of friends waiting for us to get here was on the dock to greet us and help us get tied up.  Thanks to the generosity of Patty and Bill, we had a delicious spaghetti dinner to enjoy along with Cindy and Jeff who arrived just before we did.  They were supposed to be here yesterday, but they got stuck in much worse weather than we did.
So we are here for at least the winter.  No travels to blog unless we get the fortune of diving and or fishing on a nice day.  Will try to let everyone know when there is something noteworthy.

Polo

See the rain ahead

The black cloud over us

This is that rain ahead on radar.
Notice that the radar is set for a four mile radius.
Then notice that there is no rain on either side of us.
Just us in the middle of it with more ahead.

It felt like we were a Polo shirt on top of the agitator in a washing machine today.  This day on the Gulf of Mexico was worse than our crossing this time.  Not that it was bad, it was just a mixed up sea.  It started out nice until we got south of Marco Island.  With land farther away, we didn't have the protection from the northeast winds any more.  At first the waves were on the stern quarter, which wasn't terrible, just made the auto pilot work extra hard, so Linda decided to steer in order to make the ride better.  This helped tremendously.  Then we had to turn more to the southeast.  That put the waves directly on the beam, and they weren't getting any smaller.  Probably two to three foot waves.  Enough to make your sides ache from the rocking and rolling.  We had the radar on because it looked like there was a possibility of fog ahead, which we have experienced in this area before.  There was nothing to be seen on it except a sailboat behind us until we saw rain ahead.  It made me think of just recently telling Gary and Christelle that we have had a black cloud hanging over our heads for years.  Ray was recalling a sailboater just telling us that the rain knocks down the waves.  We found that to be true with the first squall.  The first squall also made the wind change direction to southeast, which probably also helped to lay the waves down.
The second squall was much more severe as far as wind, this time from the east.  It blew all the leaves off the Christmas pepper plant on the bow.  Now it looks like a Charlie Brown Christmas pepper.


Notice the rain on the enclosure, but the sun shining on the water in the distance.

We were right on the edge of the third squall.  Should have taken a picture of the radar again.  To our left was pouring rain.  To our right was sunshine.  It kind of startled us when a crab boat crossed about a mile in front of us coming out of that pouring rain and moving to better weather.


Once that third squall was past us, a double rainbow appeared to our left.

Once most of the squalls were gone, land was in sight, we just couldn't see it through the rain.  Ray thought for sure he was going to be out there setting the anchor just in time for another downpour of rain, but we finally missed the last one that passed to our left.  After getting to Little Shark River though, Ray wished it was the rain to make him miserable.  Instead it was the noseeums and mosquitos.  This was the worst we had ever seen them there.  Literally swarms of them.  Of course, this was also when we could not get the anchor set.  When pulling up the anchor the first time to attempt another try, a large sea turtle startled Ray right there beside the anchor.  By the third attempt we were both so aggravated that Ray just gave up worrying with it.  It was so calm and still, attributing to the incessant bugs, that we didn't figure we were going to drag anyway.  Ray did brave the swarm one more time just to throw out the Danforth anchor just for security.  Once that was accomplished we grabbed everything from the helm as quickly as possible and ran inside for the rest of the evening.
We so wish we could sit outside and enjoy the natural beauty of the Everglades and its wildlife.  In the time we were out there trying to get the anchor set we saw dolphins on the way in, a large sea turtle on several occasions, and some pink Roseate Spoonbill birds flying by.






Marco

Writing today's blog will be as easy as the trip was.  We dropped the ball in Ft. Myers Beach just after eight o'clock this morning.  Tom from "Q's End" hollered his good-byes to us as we exited the harbor.  We will see those guys again soon in Marathon.  The seas were calm, the winds were fair, and the six mile per hour cruising in the Gulf waters was enjoyable on this beautiful day.  Ray did most of the navigating today, well him and the auto-pilot, while Linda made Christmas presents for Abbie.  A seven hour travel day landed us at our usual anchorage near Umbrella Island, just north of Marco Island.  We love this secluded spot.  Linda attempted some fishing after arrival with just one little sail catfish caught.  Dinner therefore was black and bleu chicken with baked potatoes.  The rest of the evening is being spent doing paperwork.  Somehow it does not go away even when we do.

Ft Myers Beach

Today's journey consisted of 20 miles of travel, 14 of it backtracking to mile zero of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway. Thankfully the waters weren't as busy as they were Saturday, but still plenty.
We pulled into Mantanzas Pass just in time for the fuel dock to return our phone call. The diesel price was so unbelievable that we called him back. Florida is confusing because you do pay sales tax on fuel now. It was at least 50 cents per gallon cheaper though, so of course we planned to fuel up although not really needed.
Once we were off the phone we saw Tom waving to us from "Q's End".  He hailed us on the VHF radio and asked about lunch. We told him we would be about an hour by time we fueled up and got moored.
After we found our way to mooring ball 16 at Ft Myers Beach, we dinghied to shore to check in and spent lunch, afternoon, and dinner with Tom and Linda plus other new friends we met along the way.

Ft. Myers

We had a guest ride along with us for a while.

We pulled anchor out of Pelican Bay a little after seven, once we were done with sunrise viewing.  Today was a typical Florida weekend warrior boater kind of day.  No real excitement, just always amazed at how many boats there are near Coral Gables.  We decided they must sell Hurricane brand boats somewhere nearby as that was the majority of them.  There were lots of playful dolphins to watch as we traveled today, but they are always so camera shy.
We traveled 40 miles, partly out of our way, but always worth seeing our friends Bob and Nancy from "The Miss NanSea".  We met them over five years ago now when we started our Great Loop adventure.  Their floating home is docked at Paradise Marina most of the time.  They were actually out of town for the day, so as soon as we were secured in our assigned slip, we walked to the nearest bus stop to catch a ride to downtown Ft. Myers.  We had a nice meal at Ford's Garage.  Our next stop was The Morgan House which has a neat second story terrace overlooking the courtyard.  We were enjoying the lovely evening when Linda recognized someone walk right by our table.  Ray chased them inside after ensuring him it was Mike from "Dual Dreams", probably one of the first boaters we met on our first trip to Marathon.  Ray did not think he was with his wife Harriet though, but I said maybe she got all her hair cut off.  It was them!  We had just mentioned them yesterday in Pelican Bay most recently, but always look for them in Demopolis, Alabama as they were based there for a while.  We moved inside and sat and talked with them for hours.  This boating community is amazingly small and so much fun!

Some Beach

Have I mentioned how nice the weather has been finally?  Wore shorts for four days in a row now.


Don Pedro State Park beach view from the nature trail atop of the sand dunes

We got up fairly early this morning after a very peaceful night's sleep with the sound of waves crashing just on the other side of the mangroves.  It made us even more curious to explore Don Pedro State Park, as you can only access that part of it by private boat.  After making my sister's favorite breakfast, that Ray could barely look at (he got his own stuff), we set out on the dinghy.  It was nice to walk off breakfast on the nature trail.  It was a beautiful unspoiled beach.
By time we got back to the mother ship and ready for departure, it was 10:00 a.m.  By 10:30 a.m. we were traversing through the Boca Grande swing bridge with two other vessels.  They left us in their wake as we were fighting the tide again of course.  It took us two and a half hours to go 15 miles to get to Pelican Bay, just on the south side of the Boca Grande Channel in Charlotte Harbor.  We anchored in just about the same place we did on the way up in the spring.

There are actually at least two manatee in this picture,
although hard to spot.

Ray was so excited to go see if there were manatees in the little cove in Cayo Costa.  Just after lunch we headed there in the dinghy.  We were not disappointed.  Our first wildlife sighting was an alligator sunning itself on shore in the entrance channel, which we disturbed, but it kept it's eye on us the whole time.  Once inside the cove we shut off the motor and couldn't count how many manatees were in there, coming up for air.  There seemed to be several juveniles.  They weren't as playful as in the spring, but their snouts surfacing was entertainment in itself, never knowing where the next was going to come up as the water kind of stays stirred up in there because of them.  We just paddled and drifted around for probably an hour giggling at them, but always noticing the alligator watching us.
We finally tore ourselves away and headed to the state park docks to explore the island for our first time.  This was a larger island, so the walk to the beach was a bit farther than this morning, but still a neat pathway through "Natural Florida" as their slogan says.  It was a nice beach also, though a much steeper drop off once in the water compared to the shallow shore of Don Pedro.  Funny how different beaches can be so close together.  It seemed more interesting to us to see loads of people brought onto the island via ferry with all of their camping gear.  A truck would put all the gear in the back and pull an open aluminum Featherlite trailer with bench seats to get the campers to the camping area.  There were supposed to be cabins on this cabin trail also.  We did see some real small buildings.  Not sure if those were it or not.




Our evening was ended with a beautiful sunset view back aboard "The Second Noelle".



Picture pages

We lifted anchor out of the Jewfish Key anchorage near Anna Maria Island and Longboat Key at eight o'clock this morning.  Before we even got in the ICW channel, the entertainment started for the day.  There was a sailboat going by in the channel just as we were exiting the anchorage when all of the sudden it stopped moving.  Of course they were near what is probably the narrowest spot on all of the ICW.  From our angle it was confusing as to what the sailboat had done compared to the red and green buoys that are so close together, but come to find out, it was quite a bit out of the channel and obviously aground.  We eased around it and got through with 13 feet of water when you are in the channel.  In Sarasota Bay the same sailboat overtook us, then was going off course, realized it and cut back in front of us.
Our next encounter was a 60 foot sailboat that must have just left Sarasota, was towing a 30 foot center console fishing/diving boat on the hip (alongside), which had a smaller center console boat being towed behind it.  I guess that was to be the dinghy, but even it was a bit excessive.  In hearing him communicate with the first bridge tender of the day, it seems the whole family was moving to Key West in this manner, they were going to start their own fishing/diving charters, then leave the business to the kids to make money for them while they sail around.  They looked like the Clampets on the water.  We were even singing, "loaded up the boat and rode to the keys."  After listening to his constant chatter on the VHF radio to each bridge tender no less than three times for each one, and then asking this sailboat that had run aground today their opinion on where he could anchor before reaching Venice Inlet where they would exit the ICW and run to Key West outside in the Gulf of Mexico, we decided it will be a miracle if they make it to Key West.
The entertainment did not stop.  We witnessed the first, run aground sailboat veer off towards markers that were not for the ICW, then realize and correct itself.  Then that same sailboat angered another sailboat at a lift bridge that had the right of way, but run aground sailboat went through anyway.  He then apologized for messing up, but their excuse was that they had never been in this area before.  Hello, downstream vessels have the right of way no matter where you are on the planet.  There were no less than three men aboard this sailboat.  Between all of them they could not navigate the channel or know the rules of the road.
By the time we were going through Venice, we turned off channel 9 on the VHF radio so we would not have to listen to any more nonsense.  We did not require any more bridges to be open and the stupidity on the radio was just going downhill after hearing Key West bound sailboat say that they were south of the next bridge they were calling.  Pretty hard to need a bridge opened when you are south of a bridge and you are southbound.
It's too bad there are not dollar signs in front of mile markers so Ray could be more accurate on the mileage he tells me it is going to be for the day.  That's not to say I cannot look for myself, but I was told it was about 40 miles planned for today.  After 50 miles of travel, most of it against the tide of course, we dropped anchor near Don Pedro State Park in Cape Haze.
We immediately got the dinghy down to try to get to Publix and back before dark.  Our original plan was to take the dinghy to a dock at Don Pedro State Park, although we noticed on the way in that the dock did not have any cleats to tie to, yet had a welcome sign facing the dock.  We figured we would pull it up on shore if necessary, but also noticed another sign said that the park closed at 5:00 p.m.  It was already 4:30 p.m.  Ray read on our new Active Captain App though, a comment from another boater that said they took their dinghy to an old abandoned looking dock up a canal to get to Publix.  That made it only a block away instead of a mile.  We decided to try that first.  We found the mentioned dock, but it was at someone's house as this canal was totally residential.  There was no way we were going to trespass on someone's property.  There were some people that were outside at several houses, including that one but Ray said "If Christelle was here she would ask someone if she could tie to their dock to run to the grocery store, but I'm not."  We discussed dropping me off at the small concrete bridge to go get provisions, but we needed gas for the dinghy to play tomorrow, along with groceries and ice.  Our next thought was to try Don Pedro park and see how closed out we would be, and if we were, we would just go in the morning.  About that time a gentleman on the dock was working on his sailing catamaran, which we had already wondered how it got down this narrow canal, and asked us if we were trying to get to the store.  When we said yes Moe offered us the use of his floating dock to tie to.  While we were walking to the store Ray said, "This is the luck Gary and Christelle usually have, not us."     

We were exiting the canal just in time for sunset.

Moe mentioned how nice the beach side of Don Pedro park is, so we decided to go explore it tomorrow morning before we lift anchor since Ray says we only have 12 miles to travel.



It is so still and peaceful here.

.

Uncharted waters

We continuously enjoy the sights of white pelicans, and they
always seem to be near Tampa Bay when we travel through.

We left the quaint little town of Gulfport around 8:15 this morning after a very enjoyable evening out for dinner last night. We took a route we had never taken before. Yesterday we saw a boat turn around at the bridge we were heading for because it did not have enough clearance at high tide. We were hoping we would have enough clearance at low tide and we did by at least a couple of feet.
Our next obstacle was Tampa Bay.  It was predicted to be a light chop, but this was the smoothest we have ever crossed it.

Coast Guard cutter "Vise" doing what they announced as
routine maintenance to red marker "70" in Tampa Bay.
Notice how calm the water is.

Being able to make it under that low bridge helped to make for an even shorter travel day of 22 miles to anchor at our third new anchorage in a row for us.  We anchored just south of Anna Maria Island behind Jewfish Key about four hours after departure. That gave us plenty of time to explore. We decided to by dinghy since the water was so pretty here near Longboat Pass. Once we were near Bradenton Beach we decided to go across the ICW to the mainland side and try to figure out where we were by land in the Spring on the way up. Once that was a success we turned back to see "Teasa" coming through the Anna Maria bascule bridge, so we headed for them. We waved, hollered, and welcomed them to almost their destination. We kind of raced them to the anchorage and arrived just as they were putting their anchor down. We climbed aboard their sailboat and did a days worth of catching up. After a couple of hours we dinghied alone over to Mar Vista Dockside Restaurant to meet William and poor 'ole Judy from "Optimystique", who keep their sailboat in Bradenton, but will be bringing it down to Marathon again after the holidays.

Gulfport

We loved the anchorage at Redington Shores. Close to some of our favorite places and close to friends. It was a neat cove surrounded mostly by homes which afforded us some Christmas lights reflecting off the still water in the evenings. There were plenty of conveniences nearby including a bait and tackle shop that did not sell fishing licenses. The things that weren't close enough to walk to were still easily accessible via the trolley.
That kept us there another day. On Sunday afternoon we met up with Clifford and Heidi for dinner at a newly opened close establishment that they had not tried yet. We were all very pleased.
Linda is still contending with her annual sinus infection she gets as soon as we get here every year, so she left Ray to go meet with Angela and Daniel from "Teasa" on Monday as they finally found a weather window to cross the Gulf on Sunday night.
Ray took the dinghy to shore this morning to pick up some ice and bread at 7-11 before our departure. Again we were not in a hurry with a short travel day planned and the higher the tide got, the more comfortable we would be exiting the anchorage. At about quarter to ten we lifted anchor out of a very muddy bottom.  A little more than two hours later we reached our next first time anchorage at Gulfport, Florida. We have been to this small town on a few occassions by car, and were looking forward to embarking on it via water.

So close.

So far the extra perks have been that there is a new restaurant open since we were last here, there is a craft show going on, and the Met Life blimp has flown overhead. Ray's friend Scott rode his motorcycle down to join us for the afternoon.  "Teasa" should be here later on in the day also.

And yet so far away.

Pressed Luck

As to not press our luck with staying on the free dock overnight again, Linda rode her bike to Walmart at 10:00 a.m. when the pharmacy opened.  An hour later we untied from Indian Rocks Beach and moved five miles south to anchor in Redington Shores.  We are currently anchored in a cove near lots of good establishments including Wahoo's where we had lunch yesterday.  Who knows where our ventures will lead us today.

Thanksgiving

It sure was a fast week docked in Dunedin.  On Saturday of our arrival we rode bikes to the local British Pub and had a great fish & chips basket for lunch.  After that it was just resting from the 24 hour crossing.  Sunday we rode bikes into town and Gary and Christelle met us via the trolley along with a couple more couples.  We had a fun time with lunch and stories.  Monday we rode our bikes to Enterprise, put them in the trunk and drove to Orlando for the holiday.  We had a great time with Abbie spending the three nights in the hotel with us.  Tuesday we went to Wonderworks and Wednesday we went to Universal Studios.  We also went shopping on Tuesday evening for Abbie's traditional birthday and Christmas present combination.  We got her a bicycle.  With all of the activities we did not have an opportunity to get it affixed with training wheels until we went to their house for Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday.  We had a wonderful meal at their house and then said our good-byes to drive back to Dunedin.  Friday was a day of chores before departure, including laundry and grocery shopping.

One of the few non-blurred pictures of Abbie in all of our action
 packed adventures.  Notice the first Noelle in the background.

We untied from Marker 1 Marina just before 9:00 a.m. in order to try to hit slack tide in Indian Rocks Beach where the ICW is narrow and the current is swift.  We pulled into the free dock around 11:00 a.m. and almost immediately hit the pavement to catch a trolley to Wahoo's for lunch.  Heidi met us there and we moved on to Slyce Pizza to watch the games on the outdoor patio.  Just about the time Heidi was heading off, Scott and Lisa met us there.  Scott had taken our trolling motor while in Apalachicola so we wouldn't have to worry about it sliding around and being in our way for crossing and fishing.  When they were ready to leave, they dropped it off at the boat only to get flack from the dock master that we were not to spend the night there.  Ray and I avoided going back to the boat too soon with that news and moved on to Mike's Pizza.
From Mike's Pizza Linda walked to Walmart to pick up a prescription that was called in earlier.  What pharmacy closes at 7:00 p.m.?  Of course arrival time was 7:05 p.m.  Well, that at least gave us an excuse as to why we had to spend the night at the free dock.  Ended up not having to use an excuse as we never encountered anyone.

Success

Reeling in the first fish, which was a
large king mackerel, just not what we
wanted to keep.  Sorry, no picture of
the fish.  Typical story.

We pulled up anchor out of Tysons Harbor after a morning of pacing for Ray.  It was noon on Friday, right at our intended time, all for the best predicted weather conditions.  When we first entered the open water of the Gulf of Mexico, they were three foot roller waves at the most.  We were about the second boat of at least 14 that were out there for the overnight trip.  It was really a comfortable ride the whole time with waves diminishing most of the trip.

Reeling in one of the four little tunnys (after the fight belt
broke).  They are not worth keeping either.

The highlights were the dolphins playing with us and catching fish, sometimes both at the same time, before dark.  I still need to look up what planet it must have been that was off to our starboard side upon first darkness.  Amongst the constellation, it was the star on top of the Christmas tree for me with nothing else to look at but other stars and blackness.  Some clouds rolled in and took away my Christmas tree, but soon after the last phase of the moon rose to light our way.  We overheard one boater say "I'm glad Someone turned the lights on."  There was lots of chatter over the VHF radio during the whole trip of boaters checking on each other.  It was a comfort to know so many were out there, although we rarely saw any on radar or visually.



Sunset

The partly cloudy sky blocked a clear view of the moon, but it was still brightly shining enough to give comfort in the fact that you could see the horizon, unlike prior to its rising.


Sunrise

This trip was an exact 24 hour crossing for us as we pulled into Marker 1 Marina in Dunedin, Florida at noon on Saturday.  We were both so ready for a shower, but the boat got one first.  Once we showered after that, we bicycled over to a suggested eatery, Cricketers Brittish Pub for a delicious fish and chips.  After that we bicycled into town to check out the Celtic and Craft Brew Festival in town.  We snuck in the open gate and were glad that we did, not paying the $15 each for only two breweries there.  We know where both are located and can go to them for free.  We bicycled back to the boat to watch cable TV instead.  What a luxury.  Although the TV has yet to be turned on.  Some are now into 40 minutes of a 20 minute nap.
I will let the pictures tell the rest of the story since there thankfully was not much story to tell.


Preparation for Gulf Crossing

Look at this fabulous pair!

We were the first of at least four vessels that departed the White City free dock this morning just after seven o'clock.  "Osprey", a trawler we have seen off and on since Pickensville, Mississippi must have anchored somewhere east of White City as we spotted them ahead of us in Wimico Lake.  We had the lead of the White City crew until we reached Apalachicola where we turned up Scipio Creek to fuel.  "Time & Tide" pulled into Apalachicola Marina to do the same and pick up a package they had delivered there.  "Time & Tide" got out of there just ahead of us, and kept the lead for the rest of the day.  Sailing vessel "Fair Ketch" was next in line of our caravan, but they decided to bow out and stay in Apalachicola to wait for better weather.  Apalachee Bay was a little rough, especially on the southern route with the chop on the beam.  We had prepared some loose objects for the crossing already, but the rest was planned to be stowed away after this afternoon's arrival.  That all got changed when things started falling already.  So that chore was completed sooner than expected.  Once we made the easterly turn though, the chop on the bow made the ride much better, and delightfully, the chop seemed to subside as the day progressed.  We are hoping that is a good sign for calmer than expected winds and weather for the next couple of days.
While in Apalachee Bay we overtook a couple of sailboats "Spirit" and "Cats Meow".  Gary on "Time & Tide" is always the chatty one on the VHF radio, so of course he found out that these two vessels also plan to cross the Gulf of Mexico tomorrow.
We proceeded 53 miles today, the last several being uncharted territory for us.  We have never been east of Carrabelle, Florida except out in the Gulf of Mexico.  Today we proceeded east through St. George Sound to the anchor at the eastern end of dog island in a cove called "Tysons Harbor".  We heard "Time & Tide" contact "Osprey" just as "Osprey" was turning into the cove to find out that none of us have ever been in here before.  Tow Boat U.S. obviously listened in on the conversation and advised us all how to enter the harbor and where to anchor.
Our last remaining friends from White City aboard the sailing vessel "Teasa" originally planned to anchor here too.  Actually this protected anchorage was Daniel's great idea in the first place.  Since the winds are calmer than predicted though, they stopped short and anchored at the west end of Dog Island.  That will help them to get into the Gulf of Mexico quicker tomorrow through East Pass since they are even slower than we are.  This crossing should be a piece of cake for them though as they are from Brazil and have spent 28 days crossing the Atlantic Ocean.
East Pass is where we usually depart when we cross the Gulf of Mexico.  With fall weather, our history, and weather predictions, we plan to try a different route this time, continuing east through St. George Sound and exiting near South Shoal to get more wind protection from the east.  We plan to pick up anchor around noon tomorrow, and hope to be tied up at Marker One Marina in Dunedin, Florida by 3:00 p.m. on Saturday.
If all goes as planned, we hope to rent a car at least by Monday and spend the early part of the week through Thanksgiving with Ray's daughter and granddaughter in Orlando.
A couple of hours after anchoring, Christelle from "Time & Tide" passed on the information that there are at least eight boats in Carrabelle that also plan to cross the Gulf tomorrow, one of them being "Rickshaw" whom we met in Ft. Walton Beach.  We hope this flotilla is blessed with fair winds and calm seas.

Happy 50th Birthday Ray!

We had a great time in Apalachicola.  Ray's childhood friend came to spend some time with us.  Scott arrived about an hour after we did.  Lunch was first on the agenda, oysters of course.  A lot of other boaters were in town, so it was a wonderful evening gathering of friends, old and new.  Almost all of those boaters left on Sunday, some to stage themselves for a crossing on Monday, at least one kept on going.  Scott drove us around to see other sights, such as Port St. Joe and Panama City Beach.  All reports of boaters were successful, with Monday seeming to be the better day to leave than Sunday.
Monday was a very foggy day around Apalachicola, but as Scott drove us to other places not so far away, the weather seemed to change with every location.  St. George Island was explored from one end to the other, although we did not bother to walk the 92 steps up in the lighthouse with the poor visibility.
Tuesday morning Linda was unsuccessful in finding the cinnamon rolls Ray wanted for his birthday breakfast.  There were no hours on the shop with the sign for them homemade, so Scott and Ray tried again after nine o'clock.  It still was not open, but they came back with some huge delicious cinnamon rolls.  I guess you have to ask the locals.  They found a bake shop that we never knew was there.  I will still have to see it for myself next time.  Along with the brewery that is to be opening there.
Once laundry was complete, Scott headed home and we headed back the way we came from.  Ray decided he wanted to spend his birthday with friends back at White City.  Much cheaper with the free dock and beers already on the boat even with the half bushel of oysters and three pounds of shrimp we brought along fresh from the seafood market.
We had so much fun gathered under the pavilion grilling the seafood and even enjoying homemade birthday cake thanks to Christelle.

Oysters!

The fog delayed us slightly this morning, making for a 6:30 departure.  We were fighting the current until we crossed Lake Wimico, then got an awesome push.  Our phones never changed to the Eastern Time Zone somewhere on the lake either, although we were actually in it at White City.  That's when we observed the time change.  Although we arrived in Apalachicola at 10:30, it was only three hours of travel.  We started on the oysters for lunch.  They were so worth the wait!

Right after seeing this bald eagle, we spotted another in flight.

White City

A peaceful night's sleep gave way to an early departure again.  A light rain was falling.  By six o'clock we had the anchor up out of Pearl Bayou.  Six thirty came with the morning bugle of the Air Force Base as we left it in our wake.  The rain continued all day.  It was an uneventful 36 miles of travel to the free dock in White City, Florida.  The city has nothing to offer, but the free dock does have water and 110 electricity.  It took a few attempts for Linda to get to the dock against the wind and current.  We pulled the boat back to make room for "Time & Tide" who arrived about an hour after we did.  Gary and Christelle had dinner with us and treated us to dessert, which was thoroughly enjoyed.

Friends

Ray and Gary from "Time & Tide".  Here are the twin boys on
Tuesday solving the world problems.  I got caught taking their
 picture. Both no shoes, beige shorts, blue shirts, same hair line
and same personalities.

We had such a good time in Ft. Walton Beach, despite the cold and windy weather.  Tuesday morning the girls walked up to Publix for some shopping, stopping at other shops on the way.  Tuesday afternoon we got laundry done.  Tuesday night we were invited, along with Daniel and Angela from "Teasa", whom have been traveling with "Time & Tide" since Michigan, over to "Time & Tide" for spaghetti dinner and Mexican Train.  We had so many laughs.  Daniel and Angela are from Brazil and taught themselves English by reading Skipper Bob waterway guide books.  Some of our American slang was lost on them, but they were such good sports.
The winds picked up out of the north and bounced us off the dock and back into it all night.  What do you want for free though, right?
Wednesday was another trip to Publix since the sales changed, and we pumped out.  Not much else was done besides making a Crock Pot full of potato and ham soup with the chilly temperatures and nasty wind chill.
The east winds on Wednesday night made for a choppy ICW channel, clapping the bottom of the boat and squeaking us up against the dock.  Therefore it wasn't hard to get up and get underway by six o'clock this morning.
The east winds made the Choctawhatchee Bay moderately choppy, but we have been in it in worse.  It improved as we traveled east and allowed for baked apple French toast to be made and enjoyed by mid morning.
It was an uneventful day with the first episodes of dolphins jumping in our bow wake this morning.  They must have been extra frisky in the chilly weather as they jumped way out of the water several times.
It took us ten and a half hours at 2300 RPMs to maintain 7 miles and hour to travel 72 miles today.  We are anchored in Pearl Bayou which is right next to Tyndall Air Force Base.  We anchored just in time to hear the National Anthem a half hour after our arrival.

Bald eagle on a short dead tree hanging over the bank.

Thank You Veterans

We were in bed surprisingly early considering our reunion celebration with "Time & Tide".  It was so much fun catching up, but we plan on doing so much more.  Just not today.  We got up early for one of our longest days of travel so far.  By 6:20 we had the anchor up, but we were not the first ones to exit Ingram Bayou.  One sailboat was missing that was here when we anchored yesterday, but there were so many additional boats that arrived after we did.  I believe there were no less than 11 of us there last night, which is a record on our account.
It was almost a boring day.  I have to say that I love the rivers and "ditches", where you are close the shores or embankments and can see whatever there is to offer without constantly looking through the binoculars.  Today was a day full of mostly semi large bays that offer no more than an occasional dolphin, which is fun.
We traveled for almost ten hours before tying to the free dock at Fort Walton Beach.  How apropos to be here so close to Eglin Air Force Base for Veteran's Day.  Thank you to all here, present and past, and those everywhere to give us the freedom to do what we love.
"Rickshaw" was already here, along with "Lumiere", who pulled in just before we did after overtaking us this afternoon.  It is a young couple aboard "Lumiere" doing The Great Loop with preschool children, planning to be home in time for them to start school next year.  How great is that?!
Creatures of habit, we walked strait to Fokker's Sports Bar, as is tradition for us, to enjoy some chicken wings.  Had we not had our blinders on on the way there, we might have noticed that the new restaurant just before it was a tap house.  We did notice that fact once we left Fokker's, so of course had to stop for one more.  It is now on our list to try again at some point in our three nights here.  Our original plan was for two nights, but this cold front coming in is going to make our next bay, one of the largest and nastiest, Choctawhatchee, rough on Wednesday so we will hold off until Thursday to try it in a moderate chop, which I'm sure we have done before.  This is a plus though for visiting with "Time & Tide" some more.  They lagged behind a little today, stopping somewhere they did not on their first loop, but will catch up with us tomorrow.

Washing Machine

Obviously all the seaman go out and spend their paycheck on Friday night because we were not disturbed by wakes until early Saturday morning.  Saturday we set out on a bike ride to find better food fare than we did last night.  What's the never fail, go to?  Mellow Mushroom!  We rode our bikes the 3.5 miles or so for lunch.  This particular Mellow Mushroom had a few dishes unique to it's location, and I was not disappointed in the Mobile Mediterranean.  This bicycle trip seemed even more worth the effort since Winn Dixie was on the way back.  A few items were necessary since we did not make it over to Fairhope after finding this free dock, where Publix was on the agenda.  Oh well, Publix will be in Ft. Walton Beach in a couple days anyway.  Saturday night was pretty sleepless despite the early bed time.  Wakes from passing ships and tows seemed to keep us awake all night.  Shortly after six o'clock we were more than ready to shove away from this great city and it's hospitality.  It did not take long to find out through social media via other friends that "Time & Tide" just left Dog River.  They are friends we met last year at Ft. Walton Beach, and haven't seen since Ray's birthday (almost a year).  Sure enough, about the time they got into the Mobile Ship Channel, we hailed them on the VHF radio to make sure they knew of the short cut across Mobile Bay.  You would think they learned from following us across the Gulf of Mexico last year, but again they took our advise and immediately cut.  At our slow speed we stayed behind them for the day, but caught up with them at anchor in Ingram Bayou as planned.  What a great reunion with great friends.


Our long missed, Canadian friends

Mobile

The Mobile Convention Center with the cranes
of the Alabama State Docks on the far right

It was another morning of not really caring what time we got up since it was going to be just a 30 mile travel day with nothing but bayou to see and anchor in again.  Anchor was lifted out of the mud of David Lake just before eight o'clock.  There was plenty of commercial traffic again, but nothing that really effected us.  Prior to eleven o'clock Ray was trying to remember who he talked to recently about docking in Mobile, Alabama.  If you are that person reading this, remind him who you are because he never did recall.  That got us researching.  As we tell our nephew, Zackery, you have to read.  In actually reading one of our old guide books we found a phone number to call security about staying on the free dock.  Surprisingly enough, the phone number was still good and Ron, the security guard on duty at the time, was ever so helpful and welcoming to us.  We revved up the engines a little more and traveled 12 miles farther than we planned.  Had we planned this ahead of time we would have gotten up and started the day earlier.

North end of the Convention Center
free dock with Ron waiting for us

Ron helped us tie up when we arrived just before two o'clock.  That's also what time he got off duty, so Jeff was the next shift until ten o'clock, then someone we did not meet, and Ron would be back at six o'clock tomorrow morning.  Ron gave us directions on where to go be tourists.  It was just across the street from our present location at the convention center to Dauphin Street.  It also happened to be Art Walk night, so we had a fun and pleasant evening visiting lots of local establishments.  Our first stop had a poetry reading upstairs, which we were making fun of.  Later in the evening that poetry reading had moved outside.  It was good enough to make us stop and thoroughly enjoy it for the short time that it remained.  Who knew?  Actually wish we would have enjoyed it sooner.

A cool saying I liked among many that were painted on one of the buildings downtown

Dog vs. Cat

The rain started some time during the night, causing us to close the windows now that we finally had a mild enough night to leave them open.  We decided not to set the alarm for this morning and just wake up on our own.  Something else woke us up though, making a noise on the boat, but we never did figure out what it was.  We could only guess that it might have been a gator rubbing on the bottom of the boat since we weren’t rubbing the shoreline or the bottom as we originally thought might be happening when we jumped up.  Another strange occurrence was that the helm dashboard was quite wet from the rain, which has never happened before.  We still haven’t figured that one out.  Maybe it’s all the ghosts of Old Lock #1.  It has such a rich history.

We were taking our time this morning with nothing special at our destination when we heard two tows conversing on the VHF about where they were going to pass.  It was going to be just above Old Lock #1 so we decided to get out on the river ahead of the down bound tow so we would not have to overtake it.  Another successful mission when we popped out into the river just after 6:30 a.m. and just in time to see the up bound tow.

The north winds helped to push us most of the way down the river, but made the temperatures drop as the morning progressed.  “Tumbleweed” overtook us at about 11:30 a.m.  We knew they would be later than us departing this morning as they stated they had to take the dog to shore in the morning again.  So glad we have a cat.

The afternoon thankfully turned over an abundance of sunshine.  We were able to turn off the heaters and open some windows.  The afternoon brought an extra pull on us with the tide going out also, so our speed was extraordinary even at low RPMs.

Okay, so it's not exactly wildlife, but it was something to see

We pulled into David Lake about 4:00 p.m. with “Tumbleweed” already here.  We went on around them and anchored in our usual spot.  We were surprised we did not hear from them on our way in, but once we were anchored we realized they were off in the dinghy taking the dog to shore.

Why did the deer cross the river?

At four o’clock this morning we heard the first and only tow to pass by.  Ray got up to make sure we were clearly visable to the down bound tow that he assumed was “Lisa Michelle” as it looked like the same cargo as when we passed it yesterday.  About another hour of sleep was barely had and another hour after that we pulled up anchor.  Sometime later we had confirmation, it must have been “Lisa Michelle” that passed us, as we were looking at the stern.  We overtook “Lisa Michelle”, hoping that the steering was fixed and that we would get ahead enough to lock through Coffeeville without messing anyone up.  We sighted our first alligator of the trip just before Bobby’s Fish Camp.  Then we had to laugh near Bobby’s Fish Camp there was a swing set in the water to where the kids would be dangling their tows to tempt the alligators. 

All missions were successful and we were in Coffeeville Lock at 12:50 p.m. with a large yacht, “Bella Vita” that easily caught up to us since they were traveling at about 15 knots.  According to the lower gage at Coffeeville Lock, our last lock of the trip south, the water level was up three feet higher than normal in this brackish water.

Once out of Coffeeville Lock we spotted four more alligators sunning themselves on the shore, once being just before our destination where we would go to shore.  That was the same shore that just previous to that last gator, we saw a deer cross the river and run up the embankment.

A couple sun bathers

At about 3:30 p.m. we pulled into Old Lock #1 to find two other vessels already anchored, “Tumbleweed” and “Motu”.  Obviously we remember “Tumbleweed” from yesterday, but also thought we remembered “Motu” from somewhere.  In our typical fashion we were making up stories that maybe we saw that boat here in the spring on the way up and it was still here living for free.  We even decided a vehicle parked up on shore must be that owner’s truck.  Come to find out the truck belonged to a local fellow who had been out hunting.  He came and talked to us for a spell while we were making our grilled ham and cheese sandwiches in the pie iron over the campfire.


The lady aboard “Tumbleweed” came to shore about s’more time to walk their dog one last time for the evening.  She indicated that they also plan to anchor at David Lake tomorrow, but she did not like this part of their trip, that it was just a ditch.  I guess that is true for those who do not see the beauty in nature.  I guess that is also why I frequently mention the wildlife we see.

Some of that majestic wildlife

We are so young

Good morning Demopolis.  Good bye Demopolis.  The best thing about Demopolis was that we got accused of being 30 and 35 years old!  Just about the time Ray headed to the nice facilities at the new Kingfisher Marina section of Demopolis Yacht Basin, the lock master announced over the VHF radio looking for down bound RVs.  I wasn’t sure if we were that ready since it wasn’t even six o’clock yet.  It was decided we would go though, so by 6:30 a.m. we were in Demopolis Lock.  We were glad we did as the next vessel to request lockage was met with sarcasm and grief from the lock master for not being in the first group (there were two of us, including “Tumbleweed”), and because is vessel name was “Easy” (not sure of the spelling because we have yet to see it~must be even slower than we are).  You see, the operator aboard “Easy” is proper on the VHF radio and says “over” after each transmission.  Well that sounds funny when he is hailing a lock, or tow, or another vessel, etc. as he says “(enter name here), this is Easy, over”.  So the lock master found that to be an open invitation for more banter.

This is what it looks like when there's at tow across the river in front of you

It was another busy day of commercial traffic on the river.  Even Fred at Demopolis Yacht Basin mentioned how busy the commercial traffic has been lately.  We talked to him a little bit about the government shut-down and that it actually was proposed to shut down the locks, but lobbyists prevented that from happening.  Our first encounter was with “Lisa Michelle”, whom was across the river, bank to bank, because it was broken down with no steering.  We were expecting this encounter since we heard “Tumbleweed” talk to them on the VHF radio earlier.  I guess “Lisa Michelle” just put in in reverse enough for us to get by it’s bow.  There was a tow “J. O. Bradford” that we hailed as “Gilbert Taylor”.  Come to find out “Gilbert Taylor” was ahead of us heading the same direction.  “Gilbert Taylor” must have been the tow that mentioned that “Lisa Michelle” was behind them, but they didn’t know what happened to it.  We mentioned to “J. O. Bradford” though that “Lisa Michelle” was broken down behind us and across the whole river.  That kind of startled the captain.  We heard their conversation later of “J. O. Bradford” helping to push “Lisa Michelle’s” stern over as they had managed to get the bow tied off to the bank.  “Thelma Parker” was the next tow we passed and gave them the same information.

This is what it looks like after you pass it standing still

After an 8 ½ hour day of travel, we dropped anchor off the side of the Tombigbee River near Pritchards Landing.  There was no one on the bank to entertain us this time as we had the fortune of just once.  It was a very peaceful and clear evening with the new moon and plenty of stars showing themselves in the clear sky.

Home Sweet, Temporary Home

With the clocks set back, we were up extra early this morning.  As Ray says though, it is still the same time, the sun is still coming up at the same time, so why bother changing the clocks?  We're confused enough as it is in this Central Time Zone. 
We departed Sumter Recreation Area before six o'clock.  Two miles before Heflin Lock we called the lock master who told us it would be 20 minutes to turn the chamber around for us.  It was more like 30, but we were in and out in about 15 minutes again.


The White Cliffs of Epes are such a change of scenery

Next we heard the tow "Greenwave" ahead of us going the same direction, and another tow coming the opposite direction that we could not understand the name of.  Just as we spotted it a couple curves ahead we saw two deer swim across the river.  I think we are so enthralled with something unusual that we miss the opportunity for a picture sometimes.  When the northbound tow was in permanent sight, we hailed it no less than three times on the VHF radio, with no response, and stated so, but were still comfortable passing it on one whistle. 


The fall foliage has diminished, so this contrast seemed extra pretty 

Hours later we caught up to "Greenwave", which was probably traveling about the same speed as us except in the curves.  We made one attempt to overtake it in a straight away, but both agreed we should back off until the next straight away.  Once we did, a couple pleasure boats overtook it and us, beating us to Demopolis Yacht Basin.  We pulled into the fuel dock eight hours after lifting anchor this morning.  We were pleasantly surprised by our fuel consumption going downstream even with using the generator much more than our usual for heat. 


Old Epes bridge and tender house remnants

Once we were tied into slip A8 in the new Kingfisher section, Linda immediately started laundry.  One because we have not been to a marina since we left Chattanooga 12 days ago, and two because we have never seen so many boats in here, again being later than usual.  We are docked with many of the boats we have seen so far on our journey, some that we met while doing The Great Loop and have already made new friends with those planning to get to Marathon also.
Tomorrow's main agenda is to do some provisioning, so it will be two nights here in all too familiar territory.





Trying to be a photographer

Seems like Mount Rushmore after the miles of mundane banks

"Greenwave" seems like a big task to overtake

Busy Boating

It is our habit to turn on the VHF radio upon awakening when we are close to a lock.  We heard “The Next Step” departing, then “Miss GG” called Bevill Lock just before 8:00 a.m.  Since the lock master didn’t sound to happy this morning when he stated he just locked a pleasure boat down about five minutes ago so it would be about 30 minutes to turn it around, we decided to be at the lock also.  Timing was perfect for us to lock down along with sailing vessel “Hip Nautic”.  It’s a good thing we did decide to go as next was “Chippewa”, a tow and barges over 600 feet long, and a light boat, meaning a tow without barges, all going to lock up together.  We heard other vessels including “Osprey” wanting to lock down next.  It was after 10:00 a.m. before the tows got out of there.
The rest of our travels were fairly uneventful except for a bunch of guys shooting skeet off the porch.  We pulled into Sumter Recreation Area just before 3:00 p.m. to find “Miss GG” already anchored off.  We were going to anchor close to the picnic table and campfire pit we like to use on shore, but we decided we better snuggle in in anticipation of the other vessels behind us.  We were hoping also to be able to hear Georgia beat the Gators on the radio, but just had to find out via Facebook because we were too busy on shore collecting firewood and making a campfire, although Alabama must have had more rain than Mississippi judging from the dampness of the wood and the more pitiful fire.  A dinner of smoked sausage with sauerkraut and onions was enjoyed over the open flame, with s’mores for dessert of course.  It was an extra early night with cooler temperatures, early rising ahead, and clocks falling back.

Chattanooga Boaters

This morning we took our time and enjoyed the cloudless sky.  Such a welcomed change from yesterday.  Around eight o’clock we called the “office” at Dewayne Hayes to verify that they sold ice as the web site stated, figure out where and find out what time someone would be there to sell it to us.  Billy stated that he would be there until nine o’clock.  We jumped in the dinghy.  Linda thought it would be a closer walk from the boat ramp to where she thought the “office” was.  In our typical getting older fashion though, we forgot to bring the trash along.  Oh well, we could just take it over to one of the closer docks.  We found what we thought was the “office”, but did not see anyone around, so we called Billy again.  We were at the day use office, he was at the campground office.  The shortest way to get there was across the wet field of semi long grass.  We purchased four bags of ice and trekked back across the field.  Back at the mother ship Ray attempted to take the trash ashore while Linda dried off the glass enclosure, inside and out after the soggy day yesterday.  There were no trash cans in the bins near the docks though, assuming for the winter season, so Ray had to go back to the boat ramp anyway. 

With all of the chores done, we lifted anchor at about 9:45 a.m.  Just over an hour later we were in Stennis Lock.  It was a fairly busy day on the waterway, passing five tows today.  Around 2:00 p.m. we were skirting the section of the Tenn-Tom that goes back and forth from Mississippi to Alabama several times before finally remaining in Alabama for its duration.

When we were alongside the Pickensville Recreation Area there was a skiff with a couple in it waving to us, hat included.  We didn’t imagine they wanted us to come in, but that was our intention anyway.  Ray figured it must be a dinghy from another boat anchored.  Sure enough, there was a trawler “Osprey” anchored just about where we usually do.  We went beyond them a little bit to drop our anchor.  A little while later we saw another boat coming in to anchor.  When they got alongside us and turned away to anchor we notice it was “The Next Step” from Chattanooga, Tennessee.  There were a few silent guesses as to who they might be, wondering if we knew them.  We left them alone to anchor and kind of forgot about them since we already forgot the boat name anyway.  That getting older stuff again.  Minding our own business taking care of business Linda’s phone rang with an unknown number on it.  It was “The Next Step” calling.  How did they do that?  Come to find out and remember, we did meet them last summer when we were docked in downtown Chattanooga.  It was an interesting conversation for a while as they are doing the loop but also both working 40 hours per week via the internet.  So they have to be somewhere with internet connection during the week and then they travel on the weekends.  Remember that most dangerous thing on the boat being a schedule?  Whew!  They had actually been anchored about where we were all week until weather forecasts forced them to go to Pirate’s Cove Marina, formally Marina Cove, yesterday.